Florida Derby

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Trainer Nick Zito, who had not won the Florida Derby in 16 attempts, finished one-two yesterday when High Fly captured the $1 million race at Gulfstream Park, and Noble Causeway finished second. Zito said both horses probably won't race again until the Kentucky Derby on May 7 at Churchill Downs. The last horse to win the Kentucky Derby off a five-week layoff was Needles in 1956. High Fly won for the fifth time in six tries and established himself as one of the leading 3-year-olds trying to follow in the footsteps of Funny Cide and Smarty Jones.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Papi Chullo nestles his pretty head against the chest of his owner, Greg Norman. The colt closes his eyes as if to doze off. Norman smiles. A resident of California, Norman, 45 - not the famous golfer - bought his first thoroughbred 10 years ago. Papi Chullo is his 15th or 16th - he's not sure which - and make no mistake: The silver-gray, docile colt is the star of Norman's stable. If Papi Chullo does something today that he's never done before, then he would become the star of the 2005 Florida Derby and a legitimate contender for the Kentucky Derby.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - With the top three contenders nursing injuries or illness, the Florida Derby appeared likely to attract a mere handful of horses. But yesterday, after two of the big three dropped out, the field swelled to nine as trainers looked to take advantage of the dearth of established talent in one of the marquee races leading to the Kentucky Derby. The $1 million Florida Derby will take place Saturday at Gulfstream Park here in South Florida. Nick Zito, who trains the top two entrants, said he understands the rush to the entry box. "I don't blame those guys for being in there," Zito said.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Trainers continue to ship horses out of Palm Meadows, the training center for Gulfstream Park, as an outbreak of strangles received national attention yesterday during a teleconference call supposedly featuring the Florida Derby. The $1 million Florida Derby on Saturday at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach in South Florida is one of the premier races leading to the Kentucky Derby. But yesterday, during a teleconference call sponsored by the National Thoroughbred Racing Association, the race took a backseat to strangles, the bacterial infection confirmed in five horses (with a sixth possible)

Three fillies have won the Santa Anita Derby, just as three fillies have won the Kentucky Derby. Winning Colors, a huge filly who could have been mistaken for a colt, won both in 1988. Winning Colors was a roan, and Sweet Catomine is a deep-chocolate bay, but they have much in common. Sweet Catomine is also an enormous specimen, big enough to bully her female counterparts, and now, after winning yesterday's Santa Anita Oaks - as Winning Colors did - she'll try to take the Santa Anita route to the Kentucky Derby.

Harry Aleo says he doesn't have Kentucky Derby fever. An 85-year-old real estate agent from San Francisco who's been enamored of racing since Seabiscuit was on the track, Aleo says the Run for the Roses has too many people, too many horses, and it's too much trouble. But that isn't stopping him from putting up the $6,000 late-payment fee to nominate his undefeated 3-year-old Lost in the Fog to the Triple Crown. In fact, less than eight weeks from the Kentucky Derby, Aleo and dozens of other horsemen are busy mapping out strategy and finding prep races that will get their 3-year-olds to Churchill Downs on May 7. The first step to Kentucky came Saturday when major prep races were held in California, Arkansas and Florida.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - Just eight weeks ago, after a gut-wrenching victory in the Fountain of Youth Stakes at Gulfstream Park, Klaravich Stable's Read the Footnotes was all the rage. The colt had won three consecutive graded races and was on top or close to the top on everyone's Kentucky Derby list. But when he took to the track Thursday morning at Palm Meadows in Boynton Beach for one of his last major works before the May 1 Derby, there was little interest, with only four people in the clocker's stand.

NEW YORK - If you're having trouble following the bouncing ball, then join the party. The lead-up to the Kentucky Derby has been incomprehensible. Long shots have won nearly every important Derby prep, and shocking long shots have won the most important two. Friends Lake captured the Florida Derby and paid $76.80. Castledale upset the Santa Anita Derby field and returned $62. What's more, the favorites have often faltered abysmally. The fastest horses seem to lack the breeding to sustain their speed for the Kentucky Derby's 1 1/4 miles, and the come-from-behind horses simply don't seem strong enough.

NEW YORK - The Wood Memorial Stakes has spawned such stars as Assault, Count Fleet, Gallant Fox, Native Dancer, Secretariat and Seattle Slew. The 80th running of New York's premier Kentucky Derby prep tomorrow at Aqueduct could showcase another equine hero. But this is an undistinguished 11-horse field in which the top three favorites have won a grand total of one stakes - and that wasn't even graded. What's more, several of the potential stars in the field risk having to sit out the Derby because of a lack of earnings in graded stakes.

Trainer Todd Pletcher, who started four horses in his first Kentucky Derby, in 2000, could have five contenders for this year's race running in prep races this weekend. This comes on the heels of Pletcher's winning the Illinois Derby with Pollard's Vision, a one-eyed horse, at Hawthorne on Saturday. The last round of major preps for the Kentucky Derby, which will be run at Churchill Downs on May 1, comes Saturday with the Wood Memorial at Aqueduct, the Blue Grass at Keeneland and the Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn Park.